Hi All,Hope your weekend is off to a good start. This rather long and picture heavy post is another entry on my recent trip to Barcelona, Spain. You can read about the 1st part of the trip HERE and about another trip (full of sight seeing pictures here and here) if you are so inclined.

My son and I sailed to Spain on a cruise ship from Florida, USA. The cruise took 13 days and was a lot of fun. Upon arrival we stayed in a hotel near the beach, but as I had intended to rent a house for a week or so I only booked a 2 night stay at the hotel. Well as you may remb I fell, ill in Texas and everything went out the window, so I was in Barcelona and the hotel was booked up!I used Hotwire again (thank you Lord!) and found another hotel at a great rate. This time it was located more towards the center of city, close to the train and bus stations.

Hotel was very nice.

View from window.

Right around the corner were MANY, MANY cafes and shops. The bus stopped right there and the Metro wasn't far away. It was an ideal location.

I took this photo because the balcony's remind me so much of the French Quarter in New Orleans.

The lounge was also open 24 hours a day if you just needed a quick drink or anything. The staff spoke excellent English.

After quickly throwing the bags down we had a snack & off we went to explore this new neighborhood. Surprisingly this area has many shops, a vet clinic (didn't bring my animals, sorry) and lots of families shopping. Oh and there are bars too. The 1st trip in 2011, I rented an apartment for 10 days and we stayed in a "hip" location (I think maybe warehouse area?) it was umm, how to say - so hip that nothing was there? I really like to have at least a cafe or pub within walking distances.

Meanwhile it seems all the tourists were roaming around here.

Arenas de Barcelona, a bullring - It was built in 1900 & now is a shopping area.

"Plaza de España is one of Barcelona's most important squares, built on the occasion of the 1929 International Exhibition, held at the foot of Montjuïc, in the Sants-Montjuïc district. The square was built on a site that had been previously used for public hangings, until the creation of the now demolished Ciutadella fortress in 1715, where the gallows were moved.Currently 1.6 million people live in Barcelona" --according to Wiki.

Junk food splurge from a small shop.

This place was only a few steps from our hotel.

(Inside of Cafe)

Birds watching us eat.

This picture is of actually of yet MORE exotic water, lol.

Took this while sitting outside eating. It wasn't as loud or hot as you would expect eating out on the sidewalk area. Most of the cafes have at least marginal seating outside, do be brave and try it.

The food was quite good here. We ate twice or three times at this cafe. Oh and I picked up Coffee too. It was amazing!

Tapas...mmmmm

My Salad :D

One night I picked up a pizza to go for my son. That is fresh basil all over it. He said it was wonderful and he is rather picky about pizza. #ImJustGladHeAteIt

Took this while sitting at the cafe. When I say right around the corner I mean the wifi from the hotel still worked!

About a block and a half away were 2 fruit markets.

I loaded up on fruit for us (ok me) and we were off. Please to enjoy more random street shots as we walked around exploring.

Window shopping :D

And I have about 500 more pictures, but you get the idea. We actually had a nice visit in Barcelona this go round. (Being able to find food easily does really help.) :o

We left Barcelona by train and went to Perpignan, France. You can read about our over night stay at a funky cool hotel HERE And from there went further into #France for an extended stay. So more travel post to follow shortly.

*This is actually port in Malaga, but the post is on Barcelona. (Read on to understand.)

*WARNING* This is a picture heavy post. Now that I have warned you there are a ton of blurry ass pictures ahead, we can settle down with a nice cuppa coffee and visit.

How are things? I've been quite busy here lately, you know- its been a packed schedule of eating tapas and lying on the beach, lol. But before we get to far into those stories, as you may remember I was sailing into Europe from Florida. So lets start there. Also if you want to see my Tourist pictures of Barcelona from my 1st trip click here for part 1 and here part 2. This trip is a much more laid back, mellow experience. The 1st time we crammed too much into 10 days and I had to get back to France to rest afterwards. :( Ok, back to THIS adventure..

I will do a full post later on the last full day on the ship, it was busy and long.

Everyone was feeling sad to leave.

Packing it up.

Early morning and we are docked in Barcelona.

Leaving the ship, it is still hard to imagine just how huge this boat is. I understand that its the largest sailing right now, but WOW. Its amazing BIG. 0 __ 0

I snapped these pictures as we left with my iPhone. Not the best quality, but it does give you some idea the size of the ship. I read it holds 7,000 passengers + 1,500 crew. So thats Giant BIG.:O

Spanish hills and calm water as we leave :D

And customs ahead...

Made it through customs and are picking up the bags.

Also New Passport - 1st stamp. :D

People started getting off the ship at 6:00 a.m. we didn't leave until 9:30 a.m. So I was already tired. I'm not a big fan of hurry up and wait, but the disembarking went really smooth.

Crowd outside terminal showing size of taxi line. In all honestly the taxi's were not prepared for so many people. We waited in line over 45 minutes. I'm hiring a car next time.

And waited.And finally we are in a taxi headed to our hotel.

This time we are staying near the beach. Last trip we stayed more in the center of the city. But this is a "been there, done that" kinda trip, so I wanted to try something new. Out hotel was Euro Hotel Diagonal Port. It was a great deal on Hotwire. The hotel was not fancy by American standards, but was clean, safe and in a great location and did I mention they spoke good english. I need to leave a review on Hotwire soon.

Inside lobby

The lobby.

In bar for a drink and a snack.

Art in bar.

The bar itself was made into a map of the beach area, it was really pretty.

Back in room.

EXCITED TO HAVE A BATHTUB AGAIN! YEAH!

Also one of those things..

View of park from hotel room window.

Nice :D

Preparing for the next adventure..

And I went down to the park to explore.

Pretty Palm trees!

The area is surrounded by apartments and buildings. People are strolling around, walking dogs and skating. Notice there is no trash.

This building forms one of the walls of the park area. This is from the park side and below is the road side.

Sadly I could find not Burritos. :(

Sunset soon.

Strolled around ate and had a nice day.

Up and out early for juice and coffee.

There are a ton of cafes, bars and restaurants in this area. I was really spoiled for choice. #Score It was Sunday morning and people were jogging, riding bikes and roller blading happily by. There were a few tourists, but mostly locals and they seemed really happy to just be outside and hang out.

Sorry time stamp is still wrong on the camera.

Later it was time to eat a hearty lunch.

They do not speak Spanish in Barcelona, but it is close. See? Between the merchants speaking a little bit of English, my little bit of Spanish and French we had no problems eating or getting around.

The tapas are the way to go. You order a little of this and a little of that and WOW. So many good things!

Oh and did I mention the weather was great too?

Went to the beach then, but no pictures. Its rude to take pictures at a nude beach. Hell I'm shy to take pictures in cafes!

Quick picture taken when staff left me alone at bar, lol

Time to eat Tapas again!

Yes, Time to eat again!

Ready, set, eat.

Catalunya is really a nice, laid back place. :D

We have a few more day in Barcelona and then we are off to Perpignan, France via the train. Can't wait!Have a great week and happy traveling!

Good morning,How are things? Pretty good here. We just checked in to the room in Barcelona and thankfully have fast 'net speed. Stand back, as now I'm gonna spam cruise pictures from the last 2 weeks non stop! :O But really the ship was AMAZING and I took so many pictures. #WatchOut A few days ago on September 11th the cruise ship, (the one I'm raving about), docked in Malaga, Spain for the day. I did not disembark, because I have been there before and also I am watching the dates closely. The day my passport is stamped the clock starts ticking, so must pay attention. Anyway, please to enjoy a few pretty pictures I took from the deck of the ship of the Port of Malaga.

#Spain :D

Another ship.

New neighbor. :D

We arrived early, but after being on the ship for 11 days without stopping, most people were ready to see dry land again. Don't get me wrong, the weather could not have been better and the sea was very calm, it's just nice to be on land again. Since most people were in line to go a shore, I had the ship almost to myself and enjoyed breakfast outside. #win

Hola! Happy Thursday and hello World- I was poking around SnapFish today and chanced upon some more of my long lost Spain Pictures. Hurray! These are from a cruise we took to Spain from Galveston, Texas, USA in 2011. It was a 15 day cruise, I think, and I will blog about that part later. We disembarked in Barcelona where we stayed for approx. 10 days. The 1st two were in a hotel and then the next 7 were in a holiday apartment or Gite.

I have a few more picture of the Sagrada Familla to share. The Church is so large and is different from every angel that you could spend days just looking at it.

People left in pict for scale.

The Sagrada Familla - in English - "The Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family", is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and thousands of people visit it every day.

Construction of Sagrada Família began in 1882 and Gaudí became involved in 1883, when he took over the project. Work still continues on this massive church today.

And they do hold services inside.

Plans, drawing from the museum.

Another shot from inside, as the light changes so does the look of the church.

Park across form the Sagrada Familla.

See it?

View from our Gite terrace.

I guess you want to see the inside too?

Our lovely Gite. I found it on line and was very pleased with the location and price. :D

The building..

Lobby

View

Shopping :D

Model found in the shop.

We also visited the Park Guell in Barcelona. The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Güell, after whom the park was named.

Wrought Iron Gate.

It was Saturday morning and the rest of Spain was there too.

Now standing with crowd.

Look up!

Mosaic detail on the benches.

Gaudi House Museum

If you want to read more about my adventures the 1st post is here. Its mostly a story and very few pictures, lol

Frozen Pizza in Spain, lol

It was a long, fun day. Headed back to the gite for a good nights sleep before we ventured off to see more.

Hola! How are things? Hope all is well. I'm working on my upcoming trip to Europe. There is so much planning left to do! We are getting off the ship in Bareclona and I'm looking for the perfect place to stay.

Its no secret that Barcelona is not one of my fav places, but I am willing to give it another try. These are photos I took in 2011.

Casa Batllo

Sagrada Familia

Inside

In 2011 we sailed into Barcelona from Texas, USA. The ship docked and we took a tour offered by the cruise line to see the sites. It was nice, but places were jam packed. I have about 1,000 more pictures, but they are all gone now. #FML So I guess I MUST RETURN.

Anyway..Wiki it if you need to know more about Barcelona, k? Now I will tell you the story I mentioned onDayre.

When we were done the XXL touring coach (& all the other touring coaches from other city tours) dropped us ALL in the center of the city and we were on our own. #Yeah! Let the Adventures begin and it did..

So image a Extra LARGE group of (mostly American) tourists all jammed up together. We had been on the cruise 15 days so TONS of luggage. Cabs were lined up and it was madness as we unloaded our bags from the coach and got sorted. I walked over to a cab and began to talk in Spanish and he said, "Wait." So I was like ok, maybe this is not how you hail a taxi here. NOTE: Hailing taxi is different in every city, so it would not surprise me. I began to walk away. He came after me and explained to me that they do not speak Spanish in Barcelona, they speak Catalan. I was surprised... "WHAT?" and as I recovered, I asked why are YOU speaking to me in Spanish then? He laughed and said he was from Argentina. So I laughed and spoke to him in English. (Which he of course understood, lol) So we had bonded and he said he would take us to our hotel.

So we follow him to the back of his car and put in our 3 bags. (2 people staying 6 months in Europe people, learn how to fucking pack. They have washing machines.) by now the jam has grown worse and bags, people, taxis are everywhere. We are in cab now, ready to leave and a large woman appears in front of us on the street. She is hauling bags into the road...WTF? I guess she is hoping to snag a taxi this way?? She has like 11?? They are the cloth bags not Rimowa; which I guess if she paid that much for luggage she would not be throwing them in the dirty street??

She is now blocking the entire lane with bags. WTF?

There is major traffic now as some people have found taxis. Luckily we are next to pull out. Cabby moves up & honks for her to move...she looks up and ignores him,walks back to sidewalk and grabs yet another case and throws it in the road. WTF? He inches up...rolls down window and honks again...motions for her to move bags outta the lane. She ignores him. He looks at me like WTF? Do I have any clue what she is doing? I shake my head, because I don't have any idea what she is trying to do. (Make a road block?? Highjack passing cab? Have a sidewalk sale in middle of the road? The Fuck?) Meanwhile Traffic is whizzing by at a fast pace. She looks like typical soccer mom from US, by the way. She has bad skin, is over weight, pissed off and apparently crazy. He honks at her again..

She ignores us and the fact we are blocked in. So what does the taxi do?

He pulls out and runs over her luggage.

x ___ x

And yells, "Vaca!"

At her.

Do you know enough Spanish to recognize the word?

*Not actual picture of the woman.

It means COW. Since he said it in Spanish I knew he was pissed. We made record time to the hotel and he apologized to me for the time it took. I tipped well and fled. * ___ *

Moral of this story? Don't pack 11 bags and throw them in the street. But if you do...move them outta the cabs way. Don't be a cow...

:x

We stayed 2 nights in a hotel and then 7 days in a Gite downtown. More of those adventures later... OMG there were MORE Things...

Me in the Gite. This time I want to stay closer to the beach. (And not take cabs.)

Author

Welcome to my travel blog, my healthy Vegan lifestyle blog and my life! It's a lot, but it's my passions and I just love to write about it. Here I share tips, stories and photos from my adventures and life. This is the place where people can find daily inspiration to travel and motivation to live healthier lives and laugh a bit too!

From art to shopping I'm just an average woman Enjoying and learning about life veery day. Follow my journeys as I travel, shop, and meditate my way through life...